Who: Stefan and Ghost!Lexi What: Stefan misses his best friend, she shows up When: Ghost Plot Where: Bar Warning: Low/None Status: Completed via Gdoc
Stefan was feeling a bit sorry for himself. He was here in this place, and had his life… that should be a good thing? But he was a little on the lonely side. Caroline was here, but she wasn’t his Caroline. Damon was back in Mystic Falls, as were the rest of their circle. Stefan wasn’t sure what to do next, really. Besides get a job. (Hanging around with Marcel and Klaus and Rebekah was a trip, actually.)
He’d gone out to have a drink and not feel like a total loser hanging around in his apartment by himself, then compelled the bartender to leave the bottle. It was going to be a long night.
Lexi had learned a while ago - sometime in her ghostly experience - that she really shouldn’t question the whole suddenly appearing thing. Sure, she’d found her peace, but it seemed that somehow, someway, something had once again tugged her back to her best friend just when he needed her. When she’d suddenly found herself in a bar, Lexi had tried to see if anyone else could spot her, but found they couldn’t, and of course she couldn’t drink, either, which was totally lame. Peering over someone’s shoulder to check the date, she smiled a little, then made her way to a familiar figure slumped at the bar.
As she walked up behind him, the blonde couldn’t help but give a wry grin. “Your birthday’s not for another four hours, but of course I find you here brooding into a bottle already. No nearby Bon Jovi shows?”
Stefan jumped a little at the sound of the voice, then spun around quickly. “Lexi?” He asked, breaking into a bright grin at the sight of her there. “It is you,” he said, and reached out to her--reaching out for a hug. When she visited him in her ghostly form, he wasn’t always able to connect with her. He was certainly hoping this time that he would be. He needed a hug from his best friend more than anything else in the whole world.
“Who else were you expecting on the eve of your birthday?” She teased, though her face fell a little when he reached out to try and hug her; instead, his arms swung right through her and she wavered a little. For his end, he’d feel a chill, but nothing solid.
“Sorry bro, looks like there isn’t any pool or drinks in my future this time around. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hang, because I absolutely demand that we do. So let’s blow this joint.”
Stefan felt a chill air as his arm brushed right through her body. His face fell just a little, too, though he was trying to be a good sport about these things. Besides, he didn’t have to have a hug to enjoy his time with her. “You got it.” His birthday. Of course Lexi would show up.
“Where are we headed?” He asked, grabbing the bottle from the bartop and turning to follow her out of the bar. There were a lot of places they could go, though he didn’t know this place well enough yet to know where the best ones were.
“You tell me. We’re on your turf, I don’t even know what year I’m in,” she said as they left the bar and headed out into the street. Doing a little spin, then turning so she could walk backwards for a moment while studying his face, she gave her trademark smile.
“Somewhere with good music, obviously, because dancing. Then maybe we hunt down your friends or whatever woman has your attention this century and take her for a spin?” And somewhere in there, she’d get him to spill on why he was so morose currently.
Stefan chuckled softly as they walked together along the street. He shrugged his shoulders. “We’re in 2023. Madison Valley. I haven’t been here for that long… I haven’t found all the good places to go yet.” He paused for a moment. “I’m honestly not sure how I got here. The way I understand it, this place sucks people from alternate dimensions and drops us all here.”
He glanced down the street. “I’m sure we can find a place to dance.”
“God, 2023? Shouldn’t there be flying cars and jetpacks? Other than the phones, everything looks kinda the same as it did 20 years ago,” she mused. “And you’re clearly slacking,” she pointed out lightly before shooting him an Are you serious look.
“More Bennett magic?” It didn’t feel like a prison world, or the Other Side, but who knew when magic was involved?
Picking a random direction that seemed to have other people heading that way, Lexi started down the road and gestured for Stefan to keep up. “So what have you been doing?”
Stefan chuckled. “And hoverboards. There should definitely be hoverboards.” He grinned over at his best friend. Then his eyes turned to look at the buildings they were walking past. “Probably. It’s weird to be here without… everyone.” Damon. Lexi. Caroline. The Caroline here was Caroline, but she wasn’t his Caroline.
“No, not Bennett magic. Something… else.” Stefan lifted the bottle and gulped straight from it. He wished he could offer it to Lex, but he knew she couldn’t take it. “Working. Reading. Drinking.” He shrugged. “Keeping busy.”
“I figured that was a given, but now I’m severely disappointed in the future.” She shook her head in mock sadness before grinning back at Stefan. “So who is around here?” Lexi hoped he wouldn’t say Damon; as much as she loved Stefan, she just didn’t feel like putting up with the other Salvatore for however long she stuck around.
“Wow, so you’re telling me you’ve gotten boring, huh? At least you’re not pretending to be a high school student now.”
Stefan laughed. “No, my high school days are over.” At least, hopefully. It wasn’t like he couldn’t pass for someone in his twenties or even older, even though he’d technically been stuck in the body of a young adult for the last… well, long time.
“Caroline is here. And a handful of the Mikaelsons.” Those were the most important ones to Stefan. At least, the ones who Stefan had spent the most time with. “Do you know Marcel Gerard? He’s the one who got me my job.”
“That’s a relief,” she remarked. As he went on to tell her who was there, she tilted her head while thinking it over. “I don’t think we ever met. I’m pretty sure he usually stayed close to Louisiana, and I steered clear of that area for the most part,” Lexi mused as they walked.
“What job are you doing?” The idea of Stefan having a job was amusing to her, but she still wanted to support him.
“Maybe you’ll have a chance one day.” Stranger things had happened, hadn’t they? Stefan hoped that Lexi could meet Marcel. Marcel had done a really great thing for Stefan by helping him get the job. “I’m working security at this museum in town.” He wasn’t really used to having a job like this. Normally he did grunt work or manual labor when he absolutely had to, but compulsion was also an excellent way to get the things he needed. He’d bus tables or wash dishes or flip burgers… whatever needed to be done.
“Maybe,” she replied, but considering she was dead? Lexi wasn’t going to hold her breath. It wasn’t a big deal anyway, because right now her focus was on spending time with her best friend and celebrating his birthday with him.
“Security at a museum, hm? Sounds boring. Unless you’re going to tell me you regularly have international jewel thieves showing up to give you something to do,” Lexi said as she grinned.
Stefan smirked. “If only. It would be considerably more interesting if we had people trying to steal things. Most of the time it’s just checking tickets and giving directions. I think I spend more time telling people where the exhibits are than I do actually doing my job.” He wished he could throw an arm around her shoulders, but it’d go right through. Probably a rude thing to do.
“I hear there’s dancing at a club a couple of streets over. I haven’t been, but we could check it out.” He finished the drink from the bottle and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
“Hell yeah, let’s head on over,” she replied. Lexi also wished that she could link arms with her friend, but even if she couldn’t? She was glad they could spend the night together. He deserved to have a good birthday from time to time.